Magazine
Book Lady of the Air
by Maude W. Schrader Mrs. Schrader, now lecturing at Chautauqua, N. Y., will be remembered by many not only for her broadcasts on Massachusetts radio stations, but also for many women’s clubs activities. She “gets’’ Monadnock from her home on Norway Hill in Hancock. GIVE ME THE HILLS and a book and contentment is mine. […]
by Maude W. Schrader
Mrs. Schrader, now lecturing at Chautauqua, N. Y., will be remembered by many not only for her broadcasts on Massachusetts radio stations, but also for many women’s clubs activities. She “gets’’ Monadnock from her home on Norway Hill in Hancock.
GIVE ME THE HILLS and a book and contentment is mine.
We love the mountains for their eternity and books for their portrayal of life.
We who spend our lives in New Hampshire find inspiration from our surroundings.
My barometer is Mount Monadnock. Is it a glorious blue, is it dull or has it wholly disappeared? The day will be planned according to this weather vane.
The sweeping hills are visible from every side and they grow more beautiful each passing year.
Reading is much the same, there are some books that never leave your bedside table, each reading reveals a new beauty.
I do not expect you to read only the books which have become classics because much of our present day thinking is seen through the books of the minute.
In this column I shall hope to cause you to share with me such books as promise to fill the need and the want of today. Have you read “THE OLD BOAT ROCKER” by William S. Mudd? It is in its fifth printing. Yet there has been no ballyhoo. After one has read the homely philosophy of the Boat Rocker it just has to be passed on to a friend. Its dedication reads “To our country right or wrong, but with the prayer that the day is not far distant when she gets right.”
As Mudd gives his report of Lem Hucklabee it is neither a saga of success nor a biographical sketch; Lem is the familiar general store keeper who sells everything. It makes me think of a store in Bennington which for many years carried these words on its sign: “Everything from a collar button to a horse.”
It is written in a humorous manner, caustic at times, and satirical in its description of the Luncheon Club, with its mission or Social Uplift and Social Betterment.
It is from this organization that the book derives its name.“Vision and Faith” in the shape of an organizer came to town and at the close of his inspiring address said, “When you are about to embark upon some untried course of action, let no one among you lose faith and cast doubt upon the ultimate success of the voyage, all must be at the oars together, and, above, all, let no man rock the boat.”
The town was remade, fine buildings appeared, but when the creditors began to appear, Vision and Faith hurried away. The pages become alive with mounting taxes. In describing the politics of the town the author has done more than satirize an election and its candidate. He is a clear thinker and fearless writer. The quaint characters will amuse you and the Old Boat Rocker throughout the book has a philosophy of caution, of bewareness and. Yankee shrewdness; it is done with a lot of fun and in a constructive spirit.
Clara Laughlin has written some delightfully intimate travel books and if we follow her recommendations nothing will escape us whether it be a Cathedral, a park, an eating place or art gallery. Have you done Paris with her?
It is, however, to Eleanor Early that we turn to give us true glimpses of Boston and Washington and now the White Mountains. She asks us in her title to behold them.
We see through Miss Early’s eyes the mountains, the notches, and the Appalachian huts that have made possible mountain climbing of a sterner sort.
While this is a guide book and we discover, as we read, the best roads, learn the seasonal activities, the good hotels and other details, she has done much more, she has given us history of a folk tale type.
Poets have often written of our mountains. Monadnock in Southern New Hampshire has its Thoreau Trail and its Emerson Seat and Miss Early has used James Greenleaf Whittier’s and Lucy Larcom’s friendship and love for the White Mountains as a bit of romance, quoting them frequently. She takes you through all the Notches and brings you down to Chocorua and to Dartmouth College.
The Dartmouth men with their Outing Club and Carnivals have made us outdoor conscious; joyous, friendly, sturdy mountains to those who understand and love them, stern and unfriendly to those who are not cautious.
Motorist are finding the Gaspe Peninsula a thing of beauty and we trust it will be a joy forever. Gordan and Brinton Brinley have just written a travel book “Away to the Gaspe” after spending four leisurely months touring its highways and byways.
Mr. Bond of Dodd Mead wrote me he hoped it would stay unspoiled until he had a chance to visit it and so say we all of us.
Esther Forbes, after a silence of seven years appears with a novel that has as its theme the story of the life of “Miss Marvel.” It is done in an original manner, tracing the incline and decline of her physical and mental capacities. The New England town in which the scene is laid, is quite the usual town but Angelica, as she is named, has, from early childhood lived in a romantic world all her own. Bit by bit her pathetic romance unfolds, a romance hidden within herself. Delicately, the author shows her waiting for the one man who will bring her happiness.
Miss Forbes’ first novel was “0 Genteel Lady,” her next “Mirror of Witches.” In both of these novels we discovered a freshness of charm, a new angle of development and this novel is no exception, not only do we find freshness and charm but a most unusual theme well done.
In Angelica’s early girlhood we find her walking by the roadside, far out in the country, dreaming dreams of the lover she has never seen. As she sits on the stone wall meditating and planning the love notes she will write, the authors’ mind travels to other stone walls—A stone wall is a comfortable seat for most New Englanders, “Not for us are beds of roses and banks of wild thyme.”
The town folk are lovable, and stamped with the usual idiosyncrasies.
In a conversation between a mother and daughter, daughter, the mother remarks “Villages have never been without their eccentric characters in the last 300 years.” She continues, “Half the eccentricity comes from the independence you and your generation are always talking about.” This was said as they were waiting to be “let in” as they call on Angelica now grown old and frail. As no one came to the door the mother continued “There’s not another house that would have dared not let us in, we must respect their independence they are carrying out all your theories of people being independent and not caring what people think—each person living for himself.”
One of the best bits in the book is the continued story of Angelica’s attendance at the Worcester Music Festival, her growing love for music, her elaborate costumes, a new one for each season and none too fine, too colorful, too youthful. This is a story in itself.
The story of her intrenched love for her phantom lover was so deeply seated in her own mind that she always saw herself as a sweetheart waiting, waiting.
Mrs. Forbes will gain many new admirers through her admirable characterstudy.
Andre Maurois in his “Aspects of Biography” says “We no longer worship myths and legends—there is a courageous search for truth—we have more exploring and investigating minds—a modern biographer shows artistic skill.” The last thought is exemplified in President Masaryk’s biography by Karel Capek. He has a light agile touch and has presented us with subject matter that best depicts the life of this unusual man. It is not the usual biography. His many sided interests, his wisdom, his courage combined with a high moral character showing idealism and realism, so blended together, have made him a statesman of international fame.
Mr. Capek through his great artistry has combined his thoughts so perfectly with President Masaryk’s you feel it is the President himself who has written the book. We first knew of Mr. Capek when his play “R.U.R.” made an international success, and the word “robot” became a part of our vocabulary. Two other biographies I must just mention are “Catherine, The Portrait of an Empress,” by Kina Gaus, which is a romantic history of the period as well as of the Empress and unique in character and “A Frontier Lady” by Sara Eleanor Royce, the mother of Josiah Royce. Her career reads as the personification the philosophy of loyalty of which the son gave us such a complete study.
We should not forget that the children have a book-shelf to be filled. Today we received “The Susianna Winkle Book” by Dorothy Mason Pierce with a foreword by Patty S. Hill of Teachers’ College, Columbia, which gives the ultimate stamp of approval. The rhymes and pictures are the kind to delight children. Susianna is four and one-half years old and does all the things that you liked to do at her age.
The Radio Station, WFEA at Manchester, N. H., is going to give me an opportunity to speak to you often and so if you have a certain type of book, a certain author, a new book just off the press, an old book that should be read or reread just write me about it and perhaps I can include it in this column or in a broadcast.
And now, as we say over the radio, my time is up and so good-by until next month.
BOOKS MENTIONED WITH THEIR AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS.
The Old Boat Rocker, by William S. Mudd (Dodd, Mead Company—$1.50)
Miss Marvel, by Esther Forbes (Houghton Mifflin Company—$2.50)
Behold the White Mountains, by Eleanor Early (Little Brown Company—$1.50)
President Masaryk Tells His Story, by Karel Capek (G. P. Putnam’s Sons—$2.50)
Catherine, The Portrait of an Empress, by Kina Gaus (The Viking Press—$3.50)
A Frontier Lady, by Sarah Eleanor Royce (Yale University Press—$2.00)
The Susianna Winkle Book, by Dorothy Mason Pierce (E. P. Dutton—$2.00)
Away to the Gaspe, by Gordon and Putnam Brinley (Dodd, Mead Company—$2.50)
ERRATA
P. 9—141 “a” in word “leaders” should be italic.
P. 16—Drawing is by Francis W. P. Tolman, not Gordon Tolman.
P. 52—L. 15 and 16—“per se” should be italics.
P. 54—ltalics—Mrs. Schrader, now lecturing at Chautauqua, should read Mrs. Schrader, Chautauqua lecturer.
Mrs. Schrader, now lecturing at Chautauqua, N. Y., will be remembered by many not only for her broadcasts on Massachusetts radio stations, but also for many women’s clubs activities. She “gets’’ Monadnock from her home on Norway Hill in Hancock.
GIVE ME THE HILLS and a book and contentment is mine.
We love the mountains for their eternity and books for their portrayal of life.
We who spend our lives in New Hampshire find inspiration from our surroundings.
My barometer is Mount Monadnock. Is it a glorious blue, is it dull or has it wholly disappeared? The day will be planned according to this weather vane.
The sweeping hills are visible from every side and they grow more beautiful each passing year.
Reading is much the same, there are some books that never leave your bedside table, each reading reveals a new beauty.
I do not expect you to read only the books which have become classics because much of our present day thinking is seen through the books of the minute.
In this column I shall hope to cause you to share with me such books as promise to fill the need and the want of today. Have you read “THE OLD BOAT ROCKER” by William S. Mudd? It is in its fifth printing. Yet there has been no ballyhoo. After one has read the homely philosophy of the Boat Rocker it just has to be passed on to a friend. Its dedication reads “To our country right or wrong, but with the prayer that the day is not far distant when she gets right.”
As Mudd gives his report of Lem Hucklabee it is neither a saga of success nor a biographical sketch; Lem is the familiar general store keeper who sells everything. It makes me think of a store in Bennington which for many years carried these words on its sign: “Everything from a collar button to a horse.”
It is written in a humorous manner, caustic at times, and satirical in its description of the Luncheon Club, with its mission or Social Uplift and Social Betterment.
It is from this organization that the book derives its name.“Vision and Faith” in the shape of an organizer came to town and at the close of his inspiring address said, “When you are about to embark upon some untried course of action, let no one among you lose faith and cast doubt upon the ultimate success of the voyage, all must be at the oars together, and, above, all, let no man rock the boat.”
The town was remade, fine buildings appeared, but when the creditors began to appear, Vision and Faith hurried away. The pages become alive with mounting taxes. In describing the politics of the town the author has done more than satirize an election and its candidate. He is a clear thinker and fearless writer. The quaint characters will amuse you and the Old Boat Rocker throughout the book has a philosophy of caution, of bewareness and. Yankee shrewdness; it is done with a lot of fun and in a constructive spirit.
Clara Laughlin has written some delightfully intimate travel books and if we follow her recommendations nothing will escape us whether it be a Cathedral, a park, an eating place or art gallery. Have you done Paris with her?
It is, however, to Eleanor Early that we turn to give us true glimpses of Boston and Washington and now the White Mountains. She asks us in her title to behold them.
We see through Miss Early’s eyes the mountains, the notches, and the Appalachian huts that have made possible mountain climbing of a sterner sort.
While this is a guide book and we discover, as we read, the best roads, learn the seasonal activities, the good hotels and other details, she has done much more, she has given us history of a folk tale type.
Poets have often written of our mountains. Monadnock in Southern New Hampshire has its Thoreau Trail and its Emerson Seat and Miss Early has used James Greenleaf Whittier’s and Lucy Larcom’s friendship and love for the White Mountains as a bit of romance, quoting them frequently. She takes you through all the Notches and brings you down to Chocorua and to Dartmouth College.
The Dartmouth men with their Outing Club and Carnivals have made us outdoor conscious; joyous, friendly, sturdy mountains to those who understand and love them, stern and unfriendly to those who are not cautious.
Motorist are finding the Gaspe Peninsula a thing of beauty and we trust it will be a joy forever. Gordan and Brinton Brinley have just written a travel book “Away to the Gaspe” after spending four leisurely months touring its highways and byways.
Mr. Bond of Dodd Mead wrote me he hoped it would stay unspoiled until he had a chance to visit it and so say we all of us.
Esther Forbes, after a silence of seven years appears with a novel that has as its theme the story of the life of “Miss Marvel.” It is done in an original manner, tracing the incline and decline of her physical and mental capacities. The New England town in which the scene is laid, is quite the usual town but Angelica, as she is named, has, from early childhood lived in a romantic world all her own. Bit by bit her pathetic romance unfolds, a romance hidden within herself. Delicately, the author shows her waiting for the one man who will bring her happiness.
Miss Forbes’ first novel was “0 Genteel Lady,” her next “Mirror of Witches.” In both of these novels we discovered a freshness of charm, a new angle of development and this novel is no exception, not only do we find freshness and charm but a most unusual theme well done.
In Angelica’s early girlhood we find her walking by the roadside, far out in the country, dreaming dreams of the lover she has never seen. As she sits on the stone wall meditating and planning the love notes she will write, the authors’ mind travels to other stone walls—A stone wall is a comfortable seat for most New Englanders, “Not for us are beds of roses and banks of wild thyme.”
The town folk are lovable, and stamped with the usual idiosyncrasies.
In a conversation between a mother and daughter, daughter, the mother remarks “Villages have never been without their eccentric characters in the last 300 years.” She continues, “Half the eccentricity comes from the independence you and your generation are always talking about.” This was said as they were waiting to be “let in” as they call on Angelica now grown old and frail. As no one came to the door the mother continued “There’s not another house that would have dared not let us in, we must respect their independence they are carrying out all your theories of people being independent and not caring what people think—each person living for himself.”
One of the best bits in the book is the continued story of Angelica’s attendance at the Worcester Music Festival, her growing love for music, her elaborate costumes, a new one for each season and none too fine, too colorful, too youthful. This is a story in itself.
The story of her intrenched love for her phantom lover was so deeply seated in her own mind that she always saw herself as a sweetheart waiting, waiting.
Mrs. Forbes will gain many new admirers through her admirable characterstudy.
Andre Maurois in his “Aspects of Biography” says “We no longer worship myths and legends—there is a courageous search for truth—we have more exploring and investigating minds—a modern biographer shows artistic skill.” The last thought is exemplified in President Masaryk’s biography by Karel Capek. He has a light agile touch and has presented us with subject matter that best depicts the life of this unusual man. It is not the usual biography. His many sided interests, his wisdom, his courage combined with a high moral character showing idealism and realism, so blended together, have made him a statesman of international fame.
Mr. Capek through his great artistry has combined his thoughts so perfectly with President Masaryk’s you feel it is the President himself who has written the book. We first knew of Mr. Capek when his play “R.U.R.” made an international success, and the word “robot” became a part of our vocabulary. Two other biographies I must just mention are “Catherine, The Portrait of an Empress,” by Kina Gaus, which is a romantic history of the period as well as of the Empress and unique in character and “A Frontier Lady” by Sara Eleanor Royce, the mother of Josiah Royce. Her career reads as the personification the philosophy of loyalty of which the son gave us such a complete study.
We should not forget that the children have a book-shelf to be filled. Today we received “The Susianna Winkle Book” by Dorothy Mason Pierce with a foreword by Patty S. Hill of Teachers’ College, Columbia, which gives the ultimate stamp of approval. The rhymes and pictures are the kind to delight children. Susianna is four and one-half years old and does all the things that you liked to do at her age.
The Radio Station, WFEA at Manchester, N. H., is going to give me an opportunity to speak to you often and so if you have a certain type of book, a certain author, a new book just off the press, an old book that should be read or reread just write me about it and perhaps I can include it in this column or in a broadcast.
And now, as we say over the radio, my time is up and so good-by until next month.
BOOKS MENTIONED WITH THEIR AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS.
The Old Boat Rocker, by William S. Mudd (Dodd, Mead Company—$1.50)
Miss Marvel, by Esther Forbes (Houghton Mifflin Company—$2.50)
Behold the White Mountains, by Eleanor Early (Little Brown Company—$1.50)
President Masaryk Tells His Story, by Karel Capek (G. P. Putnam’s Sons—$2.50)
Catherine, The Portrait of an Empress, by Kina Gaus (The Viking Press—$3.50)
A Frontier Lady, by Sarah Eleanor Royce (Yale University Press—$2.00)
The Susianna Winkle Book, by Dorothy Mason Pierce (E. P. Dutton—$2.00)
Away to the Gaspe, by Gordon and Putnam Brinley (Dodd, Mead Company—$2.50)
ERRATA
P. 9—141 “a” in word “leaders” should be italic.
P. 16—Drawing is by Francis W. P. Tolman, not Gordon Tolman.
P. 52—L. 15 and 16—“per se” should be italics.
P. 54—ltalics—Mrs. Schrader, now lecturing at Chautauqua, should read Mrs. Schrader, Chautauqua lecturer.
